Adey Desta, an alumnus of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub has been awarded a grant under the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Program.

Desta’s proposal entitled ‘Promoting Resource-Oriented Sanitation in Peri-urban Ethiopia through the Production of Struvite from Digested Sludge Filtrate’ was one of 27 selected from among the 100 eligible full proposals submitted—a total that was initially narrowed down from the 454 pre-proposals received and screened for eligibility and relevance. She will receive USD 287,025 to fund her research over a period of three years.

An assistant professor at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia’s Institute of Biotechnology, Desta is a beneficiary of the BecA-ILRI Hub’s Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship grant. During her time as a research fellow at the BecA-ILRI Hub in 2012, Desta conducted research that helped identify and determine the prevalence of functional microorganisms that contribute to the purification of tannery wastewater in an integrated biological treatment system. A subsequent ABCF fellowship in 2014 gave her access to next generation sequencing and the script-based data analysis, access she says she would never have dreamed of experiencing in Africa.

‘My experiences and research at the BecA-ILRI Hub underpins my success in being able to attract funding for my current project,’ said Desta, ‘I have been able to generate and process valuable data in high-end facilities without travelling far from home and acquired skills that enabled me to publish my work in a high impact peer-reviewed journal through a scientific paper writing workshop.’

In 2015, Desta was accepted into the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) Program that offers early career faculty from African universities residencies of up to six months.